All posts by Elaine Van Develde

RFH Wins Big with Basie Award Nominations

They got the callback!

The 2024 Basie Award nominations have been announced; and, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) performers, directors and crew got thunderous audition applause with 17 chances at award wins for on-stage and behind-the-scenes work in two shows.

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In Memoriam: Fair Havenite, NOAA Research Biologist, Author, Clyde MacKenzie Jr., 92

“I have tried to unveil what Teddy Roosevelt said, “No words can unveil the mystery of the wilderness” by conducting numerous field observations, that have included many underwater via scuba, in estuaries/bays and in the Atlantic Ocean.” ~ Clyde MacKenzie Jr.

Fair Havenite Clyde MacKenzie Jr. passed away peacefully on April 29. He was 92.

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Retro Spring Chillin’ RFH Style

RFH students of the 1970s take some free time outside in the nice weather. Photo/George Day
RFH students of the 1970s take some free time outside in the nice weather.
Photo/George Day

A reprise of a very popular Retro Pic of the (George) Day that pays homage to spring — RFH style … Now where were these RFHers? Word has it that they were far off campus … 

Spring has truly sprung. In fact it’s bloomin’ bouncing into seasonal warmth lately, save for a few bad days.

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In Memoriam: Little Silver-Raised RBR ’57 Grad, Anne Beekman Cornwell Smith

Little Silver-raised 1957 Red Bank Regional High School graduate, Anne Beekman Cornwell Smith, passed peacefully at home surrounded by her family, including her cherished Irish setters Carly and Colleen.

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Living the Dream: Staying Authentic with Another Memoir from RFH Grad Rossi

Does the world really need another memoir?

It’s a question with which famed New York City caterer, author and playwright of The Raging Skillet known as Rossi — we’ll get to her real name later — grappled. Originally, the wild child and Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) graduate of a different kind figured the answer was a hard “Yes.” After all, when it’s all about how a gay Jewish punk rock queen plucked the jewels out of her own crown, who could resist?

After ingesting too many opinions like a bad bowl of matzo ball soup — as if there could be such a thing — it was Rossi’s healing try at third-person fiction writing of her story that opened a buried crown-induced wound leading to a full-on bleed-out. It was when she doused the wound in hydrogen peroxide’s purifying sting that its authenticity got an air-out healing in what became her second memoir — The Punk Rock Queen of the Jews.

After all, she figured, the world could really use a good dose of what it takes to pull those jewels out of the crown of a 1981 Crown Heights experience as a not-so-good Jewish girl. Who couldn’t use a story of endurance and hope simmering under a heap of authenticity?

So, the second Rossi memoir, sans recipes and the more silly, albeit unbelievable, misadventures, was launched last week with a reading in New York. Now Rossi is coming home again to the Rumson-Fair Haven area with a reading, signing and gathering of hometown friends and townies at River Road Books in Fair Haven on Thursday, May 2, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m..

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Prosecutor: Area Man Arrested for String of Arsons

An arrest has been made stemming from an investigation into a string of arsons taking place on adjacent residential properties in Hazlet over the last five months, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago and Hazlet Police Chief Robert Mulligan jointly announced on Monday.    

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Prosecutor: Both Drivers Involved in Fatal 2023 Crash Now Facing Vehicular Homicide Charges

Both drivers involved in a fatal two-vehicle collision last summer in Eatontown are now facing vehicular homicide charges after an investigation revealed they were both intoxicated at the time of the crash, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Monday.

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Scene Around: RFH Tower Players Playing & Winning

Five, six, seven, eight … and curtain up! Every player plays. But, behind the glaring spotlight on every Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players stage performer is a lot of rehearsal and skill honing.

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Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge Travel Advisory

Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge construction work remains status quo, with a lot of road realignment work on the Rumson side continuing. All construction continues this week on the usual 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. schedule though Friday, weather permitting. And the weather forecast, so far, looks cooperative, calling for mostly sunny days.

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Scene Around: A Local Paperboy, Musician, Actor/Writer and a Street Naming

Call it an esteemed happening in their hometown.

They’re three Middletown-raised celebrities in their own right — famed news anchor Brian Williams and brothers Stevie and Billy Van Zandt. But it was all about the Van Zandt brothers on Friday. Middletown honored the duo in their hometown with the naming of the street where they lived, Wilson Avenue in the New Monmouth section, after them — Van Zandt Way. Williams was there to host and bask in it all with the brothers. He, as a youngster, was a paperboy for the now defunct Courier newspaper.

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Prosecutor: 53-Year-Old Man Convicted of Wife’s Murder

A 53-year-old man has been convicted of the 2022 murder of his wife by strangulation following an argument and leaving her body on the side of a road in Ocean Township, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Friday.

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